The Gélieu Family and the Wars of Religion:
A Chronology
The Gélieu family history meshes nicely with the history of the Protestant Reformation in France. We decided to show how these stories intertwine by using a time line. Click on one of the dates on the time line to learn what events took place in the Gélieu family and in the Protestant Reformation in France.
1512
Publication of Commentaries on the Epistles of St. Paul, by Jacques LeFèvre d'Etaples
The beginning of the reformation in France might be dated from this
seminal work. Though published in Latin, it boldly proclaimed the
doctrine of justification by faith, and in plain language. LeFèvre
d'Etaples was interested in the restoration of a living faith, not so
much in matters of doctrine. He was already well known for his
scholarship and publications of the literature of Classical antiquity.
His early religious work drew a small flock of enthusiastic people to
him at Meaux. A
biographical sketch with bibliography is available. Of his disciples,
Guillaume Farel and
Pierre Viret are the best known.
If there were a
patron saint of the reform movement, she would have to be Marguerite de
Navarre, sister of François I, King of France. Famous in her own right
for her writings such as "Mirroir de l'Ame Pécheresse" and the
"Heptaméron", she also gave encouragement and refuge to LeFèvre
d'Etaples. The "Heptaméron" is well worth reading, not only for its
historical value, but also for illuminating the high ideals of nascent
humanism. A splendid scene showing Marguerite with musicians appears in a manuscript of one her tales
1517
Martin Luther's 95 Theses Nailed to the Door of the Cathedral of
Wittenberg, Germany
This famous event began the reformation in Germany with the sound of fate knocking on the door of the church. Did Luther also begin the reformation in France? The French reformers allied with Jacques LeFèvre d'Etaples seemed to think they were doing something different, and it was not until word of Luther's revolt spread that the French authorities perceived the reformers at Meaux as some kind of a threat. A copy of one of LeFèvre d'Etaples' publications from 1509 has been found, we are told, covered with notations in Luther's hand. In later years, the French reformers found themselves the targets of some of Luther's pamphlets, over differences in doctrine.
1525-1534
Epistres et Evangiles pour les Cinquante et Deux Sepmaines de l'An
Jacques LeFèvre d'Etaples broke new ground in 1525 with the publication
in French of the traditional New Testament scriptures for each week of
the year. Each one was accompanied by an original "Exhortation" in
plain language, emphasizing the virtues of humility and faith in
passionate tones, which the authorities at the Sorbonne found
objectionable. When he wrote, "Scavoir humain, est plus presumption,
que scavoir" (Human knowledge is more presumption than knowledge), the
Sorbonne declared, "Haec proposition est falsa, praesumptuose et
insipientur ab inimico scientiae asserta, et errori Bohemorum ac
Lutheranorum vicina". Why, LeFèvre d'Etaples wrote, should they murmur,
that the simple, the poor sinners and publicans should receive these
divine consolations? LeFèvre d'Etaples was no Protestant; his
contemporaries said they had never seen anyone celebrate mass with more
piety. But many of his followers were more impatient about the gap
between what they discovered in the newly translated Scriptures and
what they saw in the worldly church.
In 1534, some of the more hardcore reformers printed placards decrying the abuses of the Catholic mass ("Articles véritables sur les horribles, grands et importables abuz de la Mess papalle inventée directement contre la saincte Cene de Jesus Christ"). Placards, graffiti, and pamphleteering were common enough, but this became "The Affair of the Placards" when one was found tacked to the door of the King's bedchamber. The King was not at home, in fact, but the audacity of the event could not be ignored and resulted in severe action against the reformers.
1536-1541
Institution de la Religion Chrétienne
Jean Calvin published the first edition of his great work first in
Latin, from Basel. The publisher was Thomas Platter, famous for the
diaries he left, providing a unique window into daily life in 16th
Century Switzerland. The Latin edition was revolutionary enough, but
in 1541, Calvin published a new, expanded edition in French. The
importance of this work can hardly be overstated, nor can the quality of
its prose. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Calvin wrote with great precision
and clarity.
Also in 1536, forces from Bern occupied the Canton of Vaud, and about the same time, the "Reformed Church" founded by Zwingli was established as the official religion in much of modern Switzerland. The protestant religion was established officially in Geneva by 1541, and Calvin was invited to be its head.
1551
Edict of Châteaubriant Bans Protestantism
In June, 1551, Henry II issued an edict that attempted to eliminate
the Protestant sect. The reformed religion was seen as seditious, and
extreme measures were approved to deal with it. The printing, sale, or
possession of Protestant opinions were proscribed. There were bans on
assembly, and incentives for would-be informers. Magistrates were given
powers to seek out Protestants, including searching private homes.
"Under Henry II more than ever, Protestants were perceived as dangerous
threats to the social order, as fractious rebels who fomented sedition
among the lower classes of society." (Mack P. Holt, "The French Wars of
Religion, 1562-1629" (1995, Cambridge University Press))
1557
Death of Jean Gélieu of Issigeac (Dordogne), France
Ancestral Home of the Gélieu, near Issigeac, France
The testament of Jean Gélieu has been preserved in the Gélieu family. He wished to be buried with considerable pomp at the Catholic church at Eyrenville, but he also requested that his youngest son Bernard be brought up in the reformed religion. So it was that young Bernard Gélieu was brought to Geneva by about 1559 and enrolled in Calvin's academy.
"Know all present and future that today the fifteenth of the month of August 1557 reigning very Christian prince Henry, by the grace of God King of France, in the house of the testator...in the village of Villotes, parish of Ayrenville, jurisdiction of Issigeac in Perigord...before notary and witnesses, is consistuted Jehan GELIEU... who being confined to bed, ill, yet in his good sense and memory"... "He commends his soul to God, to the Virgin Mary, and all the saints of Paradise." He requests further that "when his soul has separated from his body, his body shall be interred in the cemetery of Ayrenville in the tomb of his relatives, and on the day of his burial there should be called fifty priests, and after a week also, and at the end of one year, and that each one of them should be paid each time the sum of 20 deniers tournois." His wife Mariote GUYRAULD will remain "mistress and governess of his estate, throughout her life." He names his children, various bequests. "After the death of the said GUIRAUD, his wife, his universal heirs will preform the same obsequies as he has ordered for himself." His wife was expected to carry out the provisions of this testament "after having conducted to Geneva his youngest son, Bernard, aged about 11 years, to be instructed, as he wished, in the protestant faith and to study theology there." Thus, the will of Jean Gélieu is a curious mixture of Catholic and Protestant aspirations, as if the reformed faith was simply a new trend expected someday to become part of the mainstream. It is as if someone today sent their child to Cambridge to study molecular neuropsychiatry. Young Bernard was indeed conducted to Geneva, and the destiny of the Gélieu was set in motion.
The estate at Villotes near Eyrenville is about 4 km southwest of Issigeac, and the latter is a well-preserved mediaeval village about 20 km from Bergerac. The foundations of the church at Eyrenville date to 1153, and are surrounded by an old cemetery, but the burials now visible there are much later, with no trace of the Gélieu surname.
1562
An Edict of Toleration, and the First War of Religion
In January, 1562, the Regent Catherine de Medici issued the Edict of
St.-Germain, giving limited recognition to the Huguenots, apparently in
hopes of avoiding all-out civil war. Both the Huguenots and the
Catholics had raised their own armed forces. But instead of the
hoped-for truce, and with the young King Charles IX being only 11 years old,
nothing at all was settled. War broke out by March, when Catholic
troops encountered an unarmed group of Protestants worshipping inside
the town of Vassy, contrary to the terms of the Edict of St.-Germain.
In the ensuing campaigns, François, Duc de Guise, head of the Catholic forces,
was killed in battle, and neither side was able to obtain the
advantage. Another compromise, similar to the Edict of St.-Germain,
proved no more successful than its predecessor. However, the Edict of
Amboise of March 1563 again allowed the legal practice of Calvinism in
the suburbs of one town of each baillage or sénéchaussée,
and by Protestant nobles, who could continue to worship in the
Protestant faith on their own estates. This compromise, like the last,
satisfied no one, and led inevitably to seven more wars.
But first, it was necessary to have the Parlements of France register the edict. The Parlements were reluctant; the Regent resorted to taking the young King on a sort of royal progress to the various regional Parlements, whose members were browbeaten to undertake their constitutional responsibility. It took until 1566 to complete this tour, but there was no real peace.
1566-1572
Political Maneuvering, Culminating in the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
Charles IX, King of France, orders his nobles to Paris with their troops, thereby preventing them from exercising their rights to hold Protestant religious services on their estates, according to the terms of the Edict of Amboise of March, 1563, which was ratified in 1566 after a prolonged argument with the Parlements of France.
The following document has survived; presumably other nobles received a similar summons of chilling import that could not be ignored.
"Monsieur du Châtelet,
Pour ce que vous me ferés plus de service auprés de moy que par de-là, je vous prie partir et vous rendre avec la Compagnie dont vous avés charge, auprés de moy, le plustot et le plus diligemment que faire se poûra, laissans dedans Langres le Sieur de Bourelmont, aisny que vous ordonnera mon cousin le Duc de Guise mon Lieutenant et Gouverneur par de-là, de Paris le xvii Octobre 1567. Aînsi Signé, CHARLES."
(Monsieur du Châtelet,
Since you would be of more use near to me than out there, I pray you to leave and present yourself with the Company of which you have charge, to me, as quickly and diligently as may be done, leaving in Langres the Sieur de Bourelmont, as my cousin the Duc de Guise my lieutenant and Governor out there will order you, from Paris the 17th October 1566. Signed, CHARLES.)
The King was only 15 years of age at this point, still manipulated by the regent, his mother Catherine de Medici, who searched desperately for a peaceful compromise, and the Catholic forces under Henri I de Lorraine, the next Duc de Guise, always spoiling for a fight. The transparent maneuvering of the factions at the court assured that no truce would hold for very long. By arranging to have the Protestant nobles ordered to the court, de Guise was challenging the nobles to show their loyalty to the crown. The nobles had to choose between their king and their religion, and the fragile Edict of Amboise of 1563 was doomed to failure.
Bernard Gélieu Studies in Geneva
Meanwhile, Bernard Gélieu was attending to his studies in Geneva. We have a mention of him in 1564, in the Livre du Recteur: "Bernardus Gelius, Petragoriansis". (That is, Bernard Gélieu from the Perigord. The latinized form of the surname appears in many documents over the centuries.) About 1566 or 1567, he was ordained, and a position was arranged for him.
Bernard Gélieu in Lorraine
As it happened, the position arranged for the young minister was in the service of Antoine de Clermont d'Amboise, "Marquis de Reynel, Baron de la Faulche, Choyseul, et de Blayse", at his estate of Choiseul. It appears Anthoine had received a summons similar to that of his neighbor, Olry Du Châtelet. The Gélieu family has preserved a letter of recommendation from Anthoine d'Amboise to Bernard Gélieu, dated 30 may 1567, praising Bernard as having such a fear of God that he has been an example for a good life and reverent behavior. "We would have wished that he continue his activity, were it not for the prohibition made by His Majesty. In spite of this, we pray all concerned to receive the said Gelius and accord him all the favors he needs to Witness to all the true servant of God." This letter is accompanied by another, from the elders and deacons of the Reformed Church of Choiseul in Bassigny, relating that Bernard came to them with certificates and letters from Geneva, that he had fulfilled his duties with a zeal particular to the good servants of God, and that there had been a certain precise order from the King to the effect that Anthoine d'Amboise could allow Protestant worship only while he was in residence at Choiseul, but at the same time the King had required Anthoine to be elsewhere. Thus, the said pastor had to cease his ministry and retire to regions where he might serve the edification of the Church.
Admiral Coligny is killed in the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
from a contemporary engraving
Of Anthoine d'Amboise himself, we learn that his wife was Anne de Savoie, Comtesse de Tende, and that Anthoine was killed on the eve of St. Bartholomew's Day, August 23-24, 1572. As will be seen below, we would very much like to learn more of the fate of his widow.
In the service of Olry Du Châtelet, Seigneur de Deuilly, a fief not far from Choiseul, was one Martin Gerberon, prévost of Gerbéviller, another of Du Châtelet's fiefs. Martin, like his master, was a Protestant, and his family appears several times in the registers of the little Protestant congregation at Badonviller. Indeed, Olry's widow Jeanne de Scepeaux also appears there after the death of her husband. Perhaps through this congregation, Bernard Gélieu encountered the Gerberon family. A marriage was arranged with the daughter of Gerberon's wife Annon Chappelier, by her first husband Fourguignon Poterat. The marriage contract of 24 jan 1570/71 indicates the bride was at most 17 years old, perhaps as young as 14, depending on how one reads the document, which contains quotations of several other documents within it. Did the bride join her husband immediately, or did she remain with her family until she was thought old enough to bear children? In any case, we next hear of Bernard in Issigeac, settling his share of his father's estate. If we have interpreted the confusing documents correctly, he would then have reached the age of 25, the traditional age of majority, exactly the right time to make a final settlement of his inheritance. We think he did not stay very long at Issigeac, and served at various churches in Lorraine. A letter of recommendation from the elders and deacons of these churches, dated 25 sep 1572, indicates he was obliged to leave, to escape the persecutions of the time. In March of 1573, we find him being recommended for a position at Thonon (Haute-Savoie) in the name of the Countess of Alinges, widow, and Dame de Tende and Reynel. We are inclined to think this is the widow of Anthoine d'Amboise, in order to explain her titles - Reynel last belonged to Anthoine d'Amboise!
1575-1584
Bernard Gélieu Settles in Neuchâtel
New persecutions sent Bernard Gélieu and his wife fleeing again, this time to Neuchâtel. Bernard was welcomed into the "Venerable Class" of ministers, and was engaged to assist the pastor at Coffrane, who ceded half of his salary to Bernard. Later, Bernard served at Buttes-St.-Sulpice.
In 1584, the Venerable Class received an appeal from the church of Ste.-Foy-la-Grande, in Guyenne, for Bernard's services. This position would have taken him back to his homeland, but his wife was then pregnant, and it would not be possible to transport his family safely during the coming winter. He delayed, and evidently decided to stay where he was. In 1588, he became pastor at St.-Aubin, where he remained for the rest of his life.
1593
Bernard Gélieu Marries a Second Time
Sometime after 1584, Bernard Gélieu lost his first wife. In 1593, he remarried to a Genevan widow of Italian birth, Octavia Laura de Ferrariis. How was this marriage arranged? Perhaps Bernard was in Geneva from time to time representing the Venerable Class of Neuchâtel. The exotic Octavia must have been a prize, if we are to judge from the trove of notarial documents concerning her marriages, in the Archives of Geneva, in which significant sums of money and property are mentioned:
- Jean Jovenon, vol. 6, p. 241: Mariage, Ambroise fils de feu Jean Maria Bonyn d'Avigliana en Piemont, & Octavia de Ferrarys, fille de feu Mauris de Milan.
- Jean Jovenon, vol. 6, p. 350: Testament, Octavia de Ferrarys femme d'Ambroise Bonyn, et soeur d'Octavio et Clauda.
- Jean Jovenon, vol. 6, p. 425: Mariage, Jean Antoine Moussin, molinier de soye, & Clauda de Ferrarys fille de feu Mauris de Milan et de Françoise (?) Monedo.
- Philibert Blondel, vol. 2, p. 145: Procure, Estienne Rocca pour son neveu Ambroise Bonin.
- Pierre Blondel, vol. 4, p. 49: Mariage, Bernard Gelieu à Octavia Ferrari.
- Olivier Dagonneau, vol. 8, p. 252: Obligation, Jean Antoine Moussin molinier de soye, pour Dame Octavia Ferrari femme de Spectable Bernard Gelieu, ministre au conté de Neufchastel.
- Olivier Dagonneau, vol. 11, p. 89: Obligation, Jean Antoine Moussin à Bernard Gelieu et dame Octavia Ferrare sa femme.
1598
The Edict of Nantes Establishes Limited Tolerance and Peace
The course of the Wars of Religion took a startling turn in 1584, when the protestant Henri de Navarre suddenly became heir to the throne of France following the death of the Duc d'Anjou. Henri III was still king, but did not seem in a strong position, and all sorts of fantastical scenarios were proposed both in France and abroad. Out of the chaos that followed, in which Henri III was at war both with the Huguenots and with the Catholic League, and was finally killed by a monk, Henri de Navarre emerged as the next king of France, as Henri IV.
The Catholic League maintained its strength in many areas, organizing hangings of moderate Catholics, Huguenots, and any others it did not trust. The Huguenots kept fighting as well. Henri IV managed to stage a coronation, but was unable to enter Paris. Finally, in 1593, he renounced the Protestant faith and became a Catholic, to the consternation of all. Through his personal charm and the expenditure of a great deal of money, he was eventually able to win over much of his realm and rid France of the Spanish forces that had entered in support of the Catholic League.
The Edict of Nantes, issued in April of 1598, attempted to set up a mechanism for religious co-existence, with the hope that religious unity could eventually be restored through peaceful means. Freedom of conscience was declared, though what this meant in the 16th Century may not be precisely what we understand today. Protestant worship was permitted in the cities and towns where it had been practiced in 1597, and in the houses and estates of the nobility. The Huguenots were also give full rights of admission to schools, universities, and to hold public or royal offices. At the same time, the Catholic mass was restored in all areas, including those where it had earlier been banned by the Huguenots. The Huguenots were also obliged to observe Catholic laws about marriage and divorce, to pay ecclesiastical tithes, and observe Catholic holidays. Additional provisions, which would expire with the death of the king, granted royal subsidies to the salaries of Protestant ministers (to offset the tithes) and allowed the Huguenots to maintain their own militias. All in all, it was a precarious undertaking, but it did establish a limited peace.
It is important to realize that the Edict of Nantes did not establish religious tolerance in the modern sense, and that it did not create a climate of unbroken peace until it was revoked in 1685 by Louis XIV. But compared to the 16th Century, the 17th Century was far more stable.
1616
Ordination of Elizée Gélieu
Elizée, son of Bernard Gélieu, began his own livre de raison in 1616, probably about the same time
he was ordained. The first page shows the Gélieu arms, but the most precious page shows what we take to be a self-portrait, a fine
sketch of Elizée in his 21st year, evidently about to deliver his first sermon. He is full of the optimism of youth.
His livre de raison was also used to record family events. He noted the circumstances of his baptism, the deaths of his parents, and other items of great interest to his descendants. The book detoured from the Gélieu family into the Robert family (one of his children and one of his brothers married into the Robert family from St.-Livres, Vaud), but later found its way back to the Gélieu family.
Elizée was at first only permitted to officiate at evening prayers in place of his elderly father, whose weak eyes did not allow him
to read in the candlelight.
1628
Fall of La Rochelle
Under Louis XIII, the French court strove to consolidate its power and take back territories held by the Huguenots. The city of La Rochelle became a symbol of Huguenot resistance. A seige was mounted to retake it in 1626, while Huguenot sympathizers engaged in desperate efforts to win support from England to defend the city. Charles I of England went so far as to declare his friendship for the Huguenot cause, but the English fleet sent to relieve the seige of La Rochelle was too little and too late. The city fell on October 8, 1628, and with it, the hopes of Huguenots to establish their own territories.
1659
Jean Gélieu of Lanquais Describes His Ministry
By 1659, Jean Gélieu, a great-grandson of the originator of the family, had become pastor of the protestant church at Lanquais, a little north of Issigeac. Having sent his sons Pierre and Daniel to Geneva to study theology, he recommended them to his distant cousin Samuel Gélieu (son of Bernard Gélieu), minister at Apples (Vaud), asking Samuel to "use the authority God has given you to put them up as commodiously as possible in Geneva, give them the benefit of your good counsel, exhort them to live in fear of God, apply themselves carefully to their studies, flee bad company, and in short to regulate and govern them as if they were your own." In a later letter, the pastor of Lanquais included a few lines on conditions in his parish:
The temples are always packed on Sundays, but always in danger of being closed down, or their pastors being hanged or exiled from the realm. Which is the case for those who are the object of the denunciations of liars. The servants of Jesus Christ have need of sympathy to remain zealous and courageous and ready to sacrifice their lives.
Eventually, three of the sons of Jean Gélieu completed their studies at Geneva and were ordained. Pierre served at Salignac, Daniel at Gardonne, and Jean at Montignac-le-Comte, but after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, they fled to Holland. Their descendants seem to have settled in England and Ireland, though only fragmentary information on them has been found so far.
1685
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
Protestant Register, Annonay, Ardèche, France,
Recording the Destruction of the Temple by the Dragoons
The revocation of the Edict of Nantes really started years earlier in some areas. In the Poitou region, a campaign of intimidation was being waged, supposedly without the knowledge of the king, whereby unruly troops were garrisoned in protestant households. The intimidation worked; the occupants were often happy to return to catholicism if that would make the soldiers leave. Moreover, local authorities found pretexts to close down the protestant temples, or hang the ministers and elders for treason, or send them off to be galley slaves. At Annonay, the parish register chronicles the arrival of the dragoons, who destroyed the temple, "leaving not one stone on another". The citizens of Annonay might have counted themselves lucky; their temple lasted until the formal revocation, and their records were preserved.
1727
News from the Gélieu still in France to their Cousins in Switzerland
In 1727, Samuel-Henry Gélieu, a descendant of the Swiss branch of the family, was an officer in the service of the King of France. Swiss soldiers had served in foreign armies in this way for centuries, even during the Wars of Religion, and in spite of the obvious fact that they might be of the protestant faith. Samuel-Henry was passing through Agen, in the south of France, and called on his distant cousin Bernardin Gélieu, known to him through earlier family correspondance. Bernardin was an old man, of considerable means. He offered to make Samuel-Henry his heir, having no children of his own. Samuel-Henry was tempted, but, being himself the son of a protestant minister, was unwilling to fulfill Bernardin's condition, that he convert to the catholic faith.
It is through the correspondance of Bernardin, and a letter regarding the settlement of his estate in 1732, that we have a rough idea of what happened to the Gélieu who remained in France. Bernardin's memoire of 1730 has already confused some of the names of the children of the ancestor Jean Gélieu, as named in the testament of the latter in 1557. Nevertheless, it has been possible to match up the very fragmentary records in France and elsewhere to construct a picture of this part of the family. With the exception of the branch leading to the pastor of Lanquais (see above, year 1659), the rest of the family remained generally catholic. And Bernardin seems to have been the last in France to bear the Gélieu surname.
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Copyright 2002 John W. McCoy